Assistive Technology For Students With Disabilities

This article focuses on the many forms of technology in relation to special education. The article discusses the “high” and “low” forms of technology that is available for students with special needs to help “bypass” or “compensate” for their disabilities. The article goes on to survey the current status of assistive technology for the special education population. In the end, the article uncovers that the use of assistive technology for the special education population is promising though uncertain. Assistive technology has proven to be beneficial for students with learning disabilities, as it would empower them to work beyond their normal capabilities (Lewis, 1998).

The former US President Bill Clinton said, “New information and communications technologies can improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, but only if such technologies are designed from the beginning, so that everyone can use them.” Discussing disabilities in general will take longer than one day. I am going to talk about physical disabilities .As the Longman dictionary defines physical disability is a limitation of a person 's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity and stamina. The issue of disability is not just a matter that concerns disabled people. It has been the problem for ages in the American history and if it is not controlled it can cause big fight. When someone is disabled, it does not mean that he or she cannot be educated. According to the Washington Post, education is the breath of life, without it man cannot survive. Education is free in America, which means everyone can obtain an equal education. One would ask if colleges have gone too far to accommodate students with disabilities. Colleges have not gone far enough to support the disabled.

A practitioner with an individual with a disability in their care could engage assistive technology to help the child carry out tasks that may otherwise be difficult. This will also benefit the child’s social development as they will feel included in being able to carry out similar tasks as their peers. Keeping a direct link with intervention such as SLC therapists, social workers and physiotherapists can be a key aspect of meeting children’s needs when necessary to do so; alongside this providing security and stable relationships for children to reply on and understanding changes in behaviour. These are important adaptations when referring to children with behavioural issues, disability or children going through emotional

In the Overview of Assistive Technology and Implementation Video by Margina Busby, she gives a lecture on what assistive technology is and how it can be used in the classroom. I learned that assistive technology is “any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase, maintain, or improve capabilities of individuals with disabilities.” Some examples of assisted technology are calculators, pencil grips, pocket dictionaries, communication systems (with or without voice output), adapted textbooks, and modified utensils. It is interesting to see all of the different forms of assistive technology that can be used in the classroom. I am currently taking a class

For many years, students and individuals with disabilities have been fortunate to benefit from federal laws that advocate for protection and equal rights for all students with disabilities as intended by the initiation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Furthermore, these individuals have often performed below average not only due to deficits caused by specific disabilities, but because appropriate assistive technology (AT) was not a great discussion that was pursued with adequate funding. Although the number of persons who were being diagnosed with disabilities yearly steadily increased, and more research and knowledge was being sought after for the effectiveness of research strategies and accommodations for disabled students, many students, who were sometimes found ineligible for special education services, were often rejected the opportunity to benefit from assistive technology that could have aided in their transitions and advancements in life. Additionally, some parents are not as well-off as other parents who could afford to purchase whatever appropriate technology was necessary to equip their children for optimum performance in life.

While disabled students are learning the same curriculum as the regular based learners, they may struggle and fall behind, as they may not be able to keep up with the work. This can hurt the disabled child solely because their self-confidence can drop and result in them feeling left out. Disabled learners typically will require extra help and instruction. This can hurt the class as a whole because the amount of time spent on one concept, can take up too much time and in the end affect the amount of material covered within a given time period. Even though a child may be pulled out into a resource room for extra help, they are still delaying the classroom pace which is ultimately a huge academic disadvantage (Foust, Kathy).

The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 1997 and IDEA 2004 provided disabled students with options for assistive technology in the classroom as well as assistive technology services. It is through these mandates that Individual Educational Plans (IEP) began to include assistive technology options. The IDEA 2004 “law mandates that assistive technology devices and services be provided to students with disabilities if the technology is essential for accessing education-related resources. (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012, p. 7) The end result is, to make it possible for the student to access the curriculum that he/she otherwise could not without the assistive technology.

Assistive technology is becoming more prevalent in today’s classrooms. It is helping students with disabilities to access curriculum they were not able to in previous generations. Many laws have been put in place to ensure the availability of assistive technology to all who need it. Laws such as Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have put an emphasis on public education systems providing necessary funding for these individuals placing their needs first.

There is a wide range of assistive technology for autistic students that allows them to thrive academically. Through assistive technology, students are actually able to learn independently, which reduces the need for one-on-one teacher support and can also assist their educational needs. Assistive technology benefits autistic children with its easy use, unique application, and its ability to improve educational academics, communication, and social skills.

Assistive technology (AT) have become a vital component of the educational programs of students with disabilities. In which, is widely accepted that adopted toys, switches, computers, amplification systems, wheel chairs, memory aids,

Traditional methods of education can be a road block to a child’s learning. The goal of education is for a child to learn content, not for a student to learn how to operate the process of learning. Assistance technology provides a bridge for students who need modifications for operating the process in education. Essentially these consist of any devices that allow a child to work around their disability to learn. Though these tools are called assistance technology, they do not have to be overly sophisticated.

In their research both Trowsdale and Hayhow (2013) discovered just how much people were enabling the capability of thoses who have disabilities. Together they found that school environments and

In this week, readings the articles delved into the topic of assistive technologies and what it means to be disabled and dependent upon medical technology. Assistive technology is defined as technology that helps disabled individuals normalize back into society in body and function. It is important that assistive technology is looked through critical lens of ethics and the social model. The social model as defined by B.E. Gibson, et al. in the article Disability, Technology, and Place: Social and Ethical Implications of Long-Term Dependency on Medical Devices, states that the social model was created to challenge the medical ideology of a disabled individual needing technology to adapt. Instead, the social model focuses upon distinguishing ‘ableist’ norms that exclude disabled individuals and the distinction of what it means to be ‘disabled’ (Gibson 2007). The social model distinguishes between impairment and disablement in an attempt to raise an awareness of the oppression and marginalization of those that identify with being either disabled or impaired. In particular the social model states that an individual is impaired when lacking a body part and an individual is disabled when impeded or restricted from social organizations (Gibson 2007). It is through the lens of the social model that one takes a step back from the medical need that one might pursue assistive technology and

Regular classroom curriculum is not enough to help children with exceptionalities to learn what they need to know to advance in life. Assistive technologies are suggestions that can assist a child to learn to work independently and built self-esteem with their learning abilities. Whether the child has mild, moderate or severe, physical, or sensory disabilities, at risk behaviors, or are gifted and talented, there are a number of websites, software programs, or hardware to assist their individual learning styles.

The use of technology in educating children with special needs has widely grown in the past few decades. Individuals with special needs are unique and all have different areas in which they need assistance. Due to the advancements in assistive technology, computer programs, software, and other technology tools, it has become much easier for people to find useful and easier ways to become educated. Because of this, “technology has changed the way people with disabilities live, work, and learn.” (Winzer,98)